This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Generic database systems and server systems are well known to the art. Generally, such systems include at least one server machine hosting database information or data, and usually a server or database management system.
Such systems are often dynamic, in that the data held by the server, the database or the database management system are regularly updated with new information or data, or with rearrangement, reformatting, removal or the like of existing information. Such systems are also subject to possible errors or inconsistencies in the data held.
Certain basic monitoring systems for server systems are known. Such systems are typically passive, in that they are usually only active when a problem occurs in the database, which triggers the monitoring system. Previously considered systems are usually also simplistic, in that they only monitor the database for certain types of problems or changes. Such systems may also only monitor items which have been flagged as changes to the system. Changes to the system which have not been flagged, but nevertheless been made, may therefore be overlooked. Previous systems may also only look for specific changes, specific types of changes, or in specific locations for changes. Thus alterations or modifications in areas not specified or monitored may also be missed. The fact that these systems may search for changes specifically may also be a disadvantage.
Backup devices for such systems are also known, however these are typically merely for redundancy of the data on the system, rather than for any monitoring or analysis of it.
The present disclosure aims to address these problems and provide improvements upon the known devices and methods.